JohannDaart

I know that @hurghanico posted good info about % values translated to Hz for Parametric and Mid Focus EQ: https://allabouthd500x.altervista.org/allabouthd500x/viewtopic.php?t=78 I've also made a cheat sheet with them: https://line6.com/support/topic/59678-hd500x-eq-frequency-cheatsheet-for-beginners MeamBobbo also gave some tips about using Mid Focus EQ: http://foobazaar.com/podhd/toneGuide/eq#effects-mid @hurghanico also has some nice tips: https://allabouthd500x.altervista.org/allabouthd500x/viewtopic.php?t=75 But my question is, do you guys know the percentage values of the Q's to set Mid Focus EQ to get a -6 db and 12 db slope? What Q values correspond to those slope values? I know that those % to Hz tables were measured by @pfsmith0 - by any chance, maybe you know how to set Mid Focus EQ to achieve -6 db or -12 db slope? :) I'm asking, because Helix and POD Go cabs have -6 db slopes on their High/Low Cuts and the EQ block has -12 db slope. There's a lot of YouTube tutorials about tweaking various tones for Helix. It would be useful to be able to set POD HD's Mid Focus EQ to either -6 db as the Helix's cab block or -12 db as its EQ block, as a reference.

Loading presets from Neural to HD500 is an outlandish idea. Not possible. But you can use HD500 to send MIDI and Neural supports receiving MIDI. But then buying HD500 just to control Neural with MIDI is big overkill. On top of this, HD500 has old USB drivers that are not stable on most modern system's, so you would be better off buying some other MIDI controller with better drivers.

@DolurumMafikala I like the relaxing vibe of his vids too :)

@DolurumMafikala I think it's also important to remember, that the "big" tone you get from HD/Helix/Fractal usually replicates the sound of a loudly cranked amp. If you would get a real Fender Twin, you probably couldn't crank it so loud at home. Then if you could at a rehearsal, you then wouldn't put your ear close to the speaker to hear squirrels and those details like crackling would blend into the ambiance of the room/venue. They are there, but not as present while experiencing "real amp in a room". This sizzling also blends in mixes. You can also check Johan Segeborn vids, he uses real vintage Marshalls and you can often hear crossover distortion (sizzle/squirrels) in his tones: https://youtu.be/d8NWQSjHQHs?t=104

Hi, it's funny that you've stumbled upon the same doubts about "HD fizz" as me, while using Peter's Fender patches. If you want more info, check out my topic about: In short... This fizz/sizzle is supposed to be a modeled "crossover distortion". Lots of people call this "squirrels". Helix has them too, but they are more subtle. Other modelers like Fractal and Kemper have "squirrels" too, but they are more dependent on Power Amp (Master) setting and even smoother and less prominent (as they should be). Crossover distortion is part of the guitar amp tone, but... it should only stand out this much and be as harsh as on HD's Fender, when the power amp section is cranked. Good example is Eddie's tone from Drop Dead Legs intro, you can clearly hear heavy "squirrels": https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-EwJ9PkcZk4 But it should sound like this, because his volume on guitar is turned down, while the power amp is probably still dimed. Meanwhile on POD HD, the power amp control is not working as it should, because Drive and Power Amp controls seem to be connected and result in "overall gain". If you turn down the Power Amp, then you get less "overall gain" and "squirrels" go away, but... your tone stops being overdriven and it's not anymore "on the edge of the breakup" that you aim for. Then you turn up the Drive to compensate for the loss of gain and your tone starts to break up as it should... but you get "squirrels" again ;) You also can't really edit those "squirrels" out with EQ blocks, because they sit in the "fizz" range of frequencies that are important for guitar tone. You can smooth it out a bit, but if you overdo it, you are making your tone suck too. Edge of the breakup tones and power amp section modelling are the biggest POD HD flaws (IMO).

HD500 is rather sturdy, the only weak points are knobs and power and USB ports. They are very prone to a nasty break if somebody steps on them and it might damage the PCB board too. Because of that, I think soft bags give false sense of safety. For my POD I have a hard case ($45 used lol), but I don't use its cover after daily practice (I would need to unplug all cables), instead I've made a dust cover from a piece cardboard ;) Obviously a cover made from thin PVC sheet would be sturdier and more pleasant to the eye, but I'm too lazy...

Used HD500X for $240-260 is an awesome piece of gear, considering it was flagship and has multitude of ins and outs for mic, second guitar, xlr, two signal paths, multitude of footswitches. There are other units at this price point, like Zoom G5n or NUX / Mooer / Ampero that might sound better with IR's, but HD500X is more professional (sturdier, number of footswitches and ins/outs). But POD GO for $400 is far better than HD500X for $350. It's also more compact, easier to carry around. Even if it has less footswitches, color coded ones and snapshots make it easier to operate (like setting an amp to your guitar once, then doing 4 snapshots within one patch, for clean / clean+fx / riff /solo). Obviously IR's make POD GO future proof. As for sturdiness, both HD500X and GO will feel panzer if you keep them in a proper hard case. One con of HD500X is that at that time, Line 6 decided to release many of its amps as a paid "DLC", so if you get the unit used, you might not have them and paying $100 for this bundle in 2021 is awkward. Another con is that its drivers might be unstable on modern Windows 10 machines.

If you can get used IR loader for cheap, why not? But if you want to spend another $100 for a new one, then I think it's better to sell HD and get something new with IR already built in.

You need to understand what HD500X is and what it isn't... Its strong side is that for $230-250 used, you get a versatile unit, that is full of functionality and can do anything you throw at it. Two guitars at the same time? Guitar + Mic? Guitar + Bass? Two signal paths? Blending two amps? Looper? FX loop? Recording through USB? 8 footswitches? Professional back panel full of various outputs/inputs? Using only pre-amps with a real power amp and a cab? The list goes on and on... and HD500X has it all. In terms of functionality it's very close to Helix. Its biggest flaw? It's not a "plug your guitar and play" unit at all. It demands a lot of tweaking to get a good tone. This tweaking can sometimes take away your inspiration to play. You will need to spend a lot of time learning this unit when you get it. Weeks. The tones are there, but you need to tweak with EQ blocks (usually you will need two of them, so two blocks less to use for effects right away). If you don't have a good ear for tweaking or you don't know exactly the tone characteristics you want, you might end up disappointed. Meanwhile, units like Yamaha THR10, Spark, Boss Katana Air, Vox Adio, Zoom modelers - they mostly sound good right away, with some minimal tweaking needed. But they are not versatile. They are bedroom practice amps, not tools for pro musician. Plug your guitar and play. Another flaw is that it doesn't have IR loading like new units have To simplify, IRs are like "instant EQ" blocks. You can remedy this HD500X flaw by using it with a real power-amp and real cab, utilizing only its pre-amps. Or buying external IR loader like Mooer Radar. But this option adds costs and get's your budget really close to newer, more powerful units like Zoom G6 or Mooer / Ampero etc, with IR's already built into them. You can get them with new with warranty. Another HD500X flaw is it's potential instability on modern Windows 10 machines. Anyway, if you want "plug and play", don't buy HD500X. Tweaking is fun when you want to tweak, not when you need to tweak.

Yep, from higher price points RME interfaces (they write their own drivers), from budget tier Zoom UAC-2 (Zoom wrote their drivers too for USB3, instead of outsourcing them and repackaging them as other companies). Another disadvantage of HD500X is that it seems to be unstable for some people on their modern systems (Windows 8 / 10), they get blue screens often. The disadvantage of consumer, budget interfaces like Zoom, Focusrite or Steinberg, is that their headphone outputs are meant for consumer, low impedance, high sensitivity headphones. If you have headphones that are hard to drive, then you might need a headphone amp. HD500X advantage is that its headphone out is meant for professional, harder to drive headphone monitors and I really like how it sounds through them. It all depends on a person. What seems natural with a normal amp, for some people (even untrained beginners, not pro musicians/producers) is irritating while using VSTs through monitors or (especially) headphones. If you've tried playing with VSTs at 10ms+ and you like it, that's.... a blessing haha ;) On my laptop, @256 samples, the round trip latency is 22 ms: I haven't even tried using VSTs, HD500X is a modeler, not built for them IMHO. You obviously can go down to 128 samples, but 256 seems to be stable. Lowering the sample rate makes things jaggy on my system. If you want to use many VST plugins on many tracks at once, then I don't think HD500X will cut it, even on powerful PC. I'm trying to give you an honest picture of what HD500X is. I think it's a versatile and great unit in many, many aspects, but handling VSTs is not its strong side or even being a proper USB interface because its stability issues on modern systems.

HD500X is an unit that can do a lot of things well. Guitar+Mic? Check. FX loop? Check. Abundance of outputs? Check. Great pre amp models? Check. Looper? Check. Tuner? Check. So many robust footswitches in such cheap unit currently? Check. USB recording? Check. Its weakpoints? Quirky power amp modeling and outdated cab models. If you plan on using it for effects, as a pre-amp modeler with real power amp and guitar cab, then you will be happy. You will bypass HD's flaws. Only for effects? Maybe? There are cheaper units, that might do the job better. As an interface for playing with VSTs? No. You want latency below 10ms, preferably below 5ms. HD500X has well above 10ms :( On the other hand, even current generation modelers don't offer sub 5ms latency for VSTs. Those units are made for modeling. If you want to play with VSTs properly, get a dedicated USB interface with good drivers (Zoom UAC-2 has good drivers that offer sub 5ms on USB3).

Hi guys, Based on MeamBobbo's POD HD Guide (all props to him), I've made a printable cheatsheet of Parametric and Mid-Focus EQ's frequencies for myself, but I thought it might be useful to post it :) I think for seasoned HD500X users their ears are aleady their guide. For people just starting out with HD500X - that shows EQ frequencies in percentages - frequency tables on one page might useful as an initial guideline. A bit of explanation, how EQ-ing in HD500X usually works: - To tame the low end rumble/boominess, you can use Low Cut in amp's DEPs (deep edit parameters, double Enter on amp's block). It's scaled with Hz, so no chart needed. Usually settings between 80 Hz to 150 Hz should solve problems. You can also place Mid-Focus EQ at the very end of your chain (before Reverb) and use its High Pass, with Gain close to 0% (I think 3-4% is the magic neutral number?), Frequency % between 10-30% (65-160 Hz) and Q below 50% (the smaller the Q, the more abruptly it cuts, check the chart, 55% is advised by MeamBobbo as a starting point). Also keep in mind DEPs like Resonance and Thump, and how their interact with amp's bass knob. - Best tool to tame "HD Fizz" is Parametric EQ. Place its block at the end of the chain too. Check out @PeterJH amazing guide on how to use Parametric EQ. Usually the bad fizz is around 75-85% (2300-3150 Hz), tame it with gain below 50%, around 40-30%, don't cut down to 0%. If you look at Parametric EQ Frequency chart, notice that it only operates up to 4,5k Hz. - So if you want to tame sizzle-glassy frequencies higher than 4,5k, use Mid-Focus Low Pass. Again, Gain close to 0%, Q below 55%, sweep down, then adjust Q. I urge you to read MeamBobbo's guide for more detail. Or if you are tired, buy some external IR loader and use IR's for "instant soup" EQ ;) Anyway, if experienced HD veterans have some useful tips about EQ for beginners or how the cheatsheet could be improved I can always modify it :) The cheatsheet is two A5 pages, the second one has the charts of Parametric EQ's Q and Mid-Focus Low Pass Q. Mid-Focus Q High Pass Q has a mirror chart, so no reason to double it. To print this cheatsheet in Adobe Reader, as double sided A5 with A4 printer: Print -> Pages: 1 (only the first page will be printed) -> Multiple -> Pages per sheet: 2. It will print the first A5 page with tables. Then to print charts on the backside, put the first page back into printer upside down: Print -> Pages: 2 (only the second page will be printed) -> Multiple -> Pages per sheet: 2 -> Order: Horizontal Reversed. Here's how settings should look for the second page. -> It should print the second page with charts, on the backside of the first page with tables. HD500X_CheatSheet.pdf

I bought K240 55 Ohm and I'm really happy with them too :)

Maybe Master Volume pot is broken and needs some love?

I was fortunate, in my family nearly every person can play or has played some instrument. My mother, sister and cousins all finished music schools. Actually I'm the black sheep, because as a kid I didn't want to go to music school. Now I regret it a lot :( I don't think I will ever have as much technical skill on guitar as my sister ;)

Agreed, I think adopting this approach will result in much more enjoyment from modelers. Nobody in real world tries to tweak 20 amps in the span of a week. Sometimes people are learning their one amp for years... I really liked this video, where a guy buys HX Stomp as a present for his father: His father knew exactly what effects he wanted. He knew what kind of sounds he needed. They set it up. And that's it. Let's play. I doubt his father is depressed because he's not using 100% of what HX offers to him. On the other hand, if he wants to try out some new effect type, it's always right there waiting for him to experiment.

If that's the case, then yeah, another reason to stay away from broken units.

Used HD500X + new cab box price is really close to POD GO, that has new gen modeling with user IR loading. But I think IR loader is a nice option for somebody that owns couple older modelers.

MIDI to USB cable provides ability to send (only) MIDI info to your PC. HD's USB to USB connection sends a lot more than just MIDI. So NO, it won't work the way you think it will. If you don't have soldering skills or a friend that could help with it, so you could repair it by soldering in new USB connector, then wait a bit for a fully functional HD500 unit on used market.

Effect blocks in HD have various impedances. The one that counts is the impedance of a first block in your chain. In global settings, Guitar Z on Auto will use whatever impedance the first FX block in your patch has. But if you want, set it for example to 1m, and it will be the same for all patches, no matter what blocks they have first in a chain.

I did the loopback test, turns out the driver is wrong by -0.53 to -0.63 ms, the real latency is variable by 0.10 ms. That's miniscule, but at least I've satisfied my curiosity or... OCD haha ;)

I agree, RME and Zoom interfaces on USB3 have below 5ms latency while DAW monitoring (reamping with live plugins) and that's truly unnoticable. So those last 2-4 ms of recorded track misalignment while direct monitoring are nothing. Getting recorded tracks perfectly aligned in a DAW is a nice thing, though. But it turns out that something was off with my Line 6 driver (4.2.7.7). It was "frozen" (no ability to change settings). I thought that simply reinstalling it won't make a difference (for buffer settings and this latency misalignment)... but it did. I just clicked "reinstall" in Line 6 Monkey and everything works properly now. Thank you for the tip about line level FX Loop, I haven't though about it! I will do this "loopback" test out of curiosity anyway ;) You are really a life saver hurghanico! I think you have more practical knowledge about HD than Line 6 ;)

Add Pitch Glide to your chain > Select it with cursor > Double press MOVE > Assign it to EXP pedal > Set Min Value to 0 > Set Max Value to -24 (minus 24).

I really liked your guide, thanks man! I'm on Windows 8.1, but I had one BSOD too. Before it happened, I've noticed that sometimes when I was doing breaks (leaving DAW open), after coming back I had some stuttering. Then one time after taking a break I've encountered this stuttering, so I restarted my DAW. No stuttering but... BSOD. Now that you've linked this Line 6 USB guidance, I see that they recommend disabling "selective USB off" and "hard disk off". So I've checked advanced options of my energy plan and hey, USB disabling was ON and turning off hard lollipop was ON after 20 minutes. Could this hard disk disabling after 20 minutes be the cause of my stuttering that lead to BSOD? It seems to align with my breaks... I think POD HD drivers were written before era of widespread energy saving laptops, so they might be sensitive to this USB / Hard Disk disabling. So to make them stable, it's better to set your laptop to work like a PC without energy saving.

Yes, I understand, that there's a difference between DAW monitoring (it has latency that can't be eliminated, for example when "reamping" dry signal from POD) and direct monitoring (that should have no latency). In my case, there's a slight latency while direct monitoring. From what I've learned, while direct monitoring, just as you wrote, every DAW compensates recordings for latency that is reported by unit's drivers. So if a driver says its 20ms, DAW will compensate for 20ms. But more often than not, drivers are not providing the exact correct latency. Usually it's off by +/- 2-4 ms. There's a good video about this: I just noticed, that I can't change buffer size in Line 6 ASIO driver panel. It keeps reverting to 1024... I'm on Windows 8.1, I think something is off with the driver. I will try reinstalling it, but I don't think it will solve this "frozen" buffer size problem, because I know that I've installed everything properly :( Anyway, on HD500X, using some settings, is there a way to connect (line level) output to (line level) input? Guitar Input is obviously instrument level. What about AUX or MIC? Can they be set to line level?